


Preliminary

by kirogaraii



Series: A Bitter Sweet World : ShuuKazu [3]
Category: Hatoful Kareshi | Hatoful Boyfriend
Genre: BitterSweet AU : ShuuKazu, Character Analysis, Developing Friendships, Gen, Inner Dialogue, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:15:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23310736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirogaraii/pseuds/kirogaraii
Summary: I can still remember that night very vividly. That night, when Hitori was carried to the hospital because he stopped breathing while sleeping. It was nightmarish, all of it, and the one thing that made it even more surreal was the man who entered the room back then…
Relationships: Iwamine Shuu/Nanaki Kazuaki (Original), Nanaki Kazuaki/Uzune Hitori
Series: A Bitter Sweet World : ShuuKazu [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1623460
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	Preliminary

「March 23. It’s night, but I felt like writing this down today.

I can still remember that night very vividly. That night, when Hitori was carried to the hospital because he stopped breathing while sleeping. It was nightmarish, all of it, and the one thing that made it even more surreal was the man who entered the room back then…

Souma Isa. Doctor Isa. Hitori said once that if he ever is in a critical situation, I should call doctor Isa and let him know of the situation. And that’s what I did. And that’s what I saw…

He looked very disheveled. I noticed that he still wore a lab coat underneath that thicker black one. His long hair was tied into an unremarkable ponytail, actually, the messiness of his tangles were remarkable. It seemed like he hadn't changed this hairstyle in quite a while. And his face was full of contradictions… He looked like a handsome beauty, but at the same time his eyes were dim and circled, very unkempt. I hope I didn’t wake him from his sleep with my phone call, but then again, he entered holding a paper cup of the hospital coffee.

He was mean.

He didn’t even say hello right away when he entered. Only after examining my sleeping boyfriend did he say “My, what a mess. And yet your face looks so peaceful among all of it, Uzune… And you are Nanaki Kazuaki, right? Good evening.”

For some reason this really stuck with me enough that I remember it even now.

And then I found out that his name wasn’t ‘Isa’ anymore. He was ‘Shuu Iwamine’... I felt terrible for not knowing, since apparently he changed his name at least a year ago. And he may have seemed relaxed to correct me, but I could sense that my mistake made him grit his teeth for a second.

To be fair, with his complexion, and the name change, I thought that it all may have been for a different reason, but as far as I know, that was never the case…

I felt so lonely and scared that night that when this incredibly eerie partridge appeared, I think I may have overwhelmed him with my talking at first. All he wanted to do was check some documents, interview me about how it happened and then leave. The conversation pretty much went like this.

“Um, so you’re a doctor?” That’s me asking.

And Iwamine goes “Yes. I am a doctor, researcher, and pathologist.”

“...Oh…” what else is there to say, “That’s cool…”

And then there’d be a silence until I asked another question. He didn’t ask me anything initially, killing down every smalltalk attempt. But it’s not like I am, or ever was better at smalltalk. My curiosity is the only trait that lets me have the most tiny social skill.

Until eventually he asked me, “Do you have an occupation?”

And I said, “I’m still a prep school student… But Hitori encourages me to pick up a part-time job sometime, but it’s scary…”

Which made me think, wait, how old is this guy anyway if he has three very… uh… ‘old people’ jobs I guess,

“Oh, hey, how old are you, doctor?”

Iwamine looked me in the eyes for a few seconds. Then he looked down at Hitori, and at the room around us. He put a finger to his chin, looking very deep in thought, and said “...Over… twenty… for sure… But less than thirty...”

This made me realize who I’m talking to.

I am talking to a true, real life…

High Int Low Wis Character!!!

Just a minute ago he explained to me what links him to Hitori using very professional and complicated terms, but when I’d ask a banal question like that, Iwamine had an absurd look in his eyes.

So if he’s a world renowned doctor as a twenty-something year old, clearly he must be like… Albert Einstein, or something! That’s too smart!! That’s so scary! He’s even smarter than Hitori?? Impossible! that’s what I thought! What am I thinking, interacting with a super genius? Me, the boy who cries when he can’t find the right bit in a 100-piece-puzzle.

But… There’s not much to say. That’s how Iwamine and I met. We whispered back and forth for a bit above unconscious Hitori, and then he said that he had to go, and he went.

And the next time I saw him again was months later. Maybe even more. Was it years later? I may have spotted him for a second when I met up with Hitori under that lab where he checked up on Nageki, but really the next time I talked to him again was years later.

Yes, it was when Nageki woke up again…

It was an incredible day. Even though I’ve never seen him in flesh until now, I cried from joy too. Hitori was so happy, and Nageki was happy too. And doctor Iwamine was… in the corner, watching. Watching it with a look more similar to someone seeing a funeral, not someone waking up from a coma.

And this time doctor Iwamine was different. His hair looked better. Now he had a pretty little bow in it, making him seem like a gentleman. His clothes were clean and proper. Even his glasses looked more radiant, somehow. But because he stood in a shadow with that grim face, doctor Iwamine still looked very terrifying.

Hitori and Nageki wanted to have a private moment, which turned into at least half an hour. So Iwamine and I were both kicked out into the hallway.

Alone, again… Just the two of us, while Hitori was at a certain peak of emotion and absent. Isn’t that interesting? History repeated itself.

And it was only now that I noticed how short this doctor is too! Well not super short, but now that we stood side by side, I had to hold my breath because he perfectly matched the height of my chin, and I felt flustered by this for some reason. This was a historical moment for the world of medicine, and even more so to Shuu Iwamine, so I couldn’t help but feel strange at his… poker face. It worried me.

“Are you happy that Nageki is healthy again?” I asked.

Iwamine wrinkled his forehead, “...Me? ...is that what I should be feeling?”, he asked genuinely.

“Well, I guess so… Y-You’ve worked on curing Nageki Fujishiro for five years, almost. I don’t know you that well, but I think everyone feels good after finishing a project.”

“...‘ _Good_ ’... Maybe I feel ‘ _good_ ’. It’s true, finishing a project is relieving, but to be honest I enjoyed the process of working itself a bit more.”

“...Hm, is that so…” I scratched my neck, “...But you don’t look relieved.”

Iwamine chuckled, for a change. He had a low and silky voice, and he looked up at me with a defeated smile.

“I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in five years, that may be all. I’m not exactly the type to open up champagne in celebration in general, though.”

He breathed in, leaning back against the wall.

“...There are still some things that will come after this. I have instructions regarding physical therapy for Uzune and Fujishiro once they’re done. You are a close person to the two of them, so it’s good that you’re present, Nanaki.

But to be honest… To be honest, I don’t know what to do with myself once this is over. Will I continue finding patients with tricky diseases and cure them over and over again until I die of old age? It doesn’t feel undesirable, and yet, I feel like the hypothalamus in my brain is burnt down to the size of a corn kernel. I’m not sure if I can tackle another big case like this in… I don’t know. I’ve got something else to worry about for now.”

With those few sentences, I felt my heart flutter. Not expecting much of an answer at all, I was really surprised to hear such a deep and personal phrase from the doctor. Iwamine made eye contact with me, I think he realized that he just revealed too much information which made him uncertain.

“...But why do you care, Nanaki Kazuaki? You’re full of enthusiasm and energy thanks to Fujishiro waking up, are you not? Talking to someone like me isn’t exactly festive.”

“Well… Well, yes. I think I understand how you feel, a little bit… I don’t know what I want to do with my future either. But Hitori is with me and he always has everything thought out well, so I’m hoping that he’ll lead me on, as always… You’re like a super genius so you’ll probably figure something out soon too!

...And I care, because, hm… I guess… I just want to get to know you, Iwamine Shuu!” I thought saying his full name like he did to me would be really clever.

I gave him my most determined expression. Iwamine was silent for a minute. “...I see.” he mumbled out at last.

Then we were quiet. And yes, we talked a little bit once Hitori and Nageki returned to our proximity, and I was definitely distracted and occupied with the crazy situation that was getting to know Nageki, and Nageki getting to know me. Everything must’ve been shocking to him, but luckily he accepted that I was Hitori’s boyfriend very well. Nageki is such a kind boy. From the hundreds of memories that Hitori shared with me about him, I felt like I was meeting a super-idol in person. Iwamine tried lecturing Hitori about the future plans of Nageki’s rehabilitation, but it took him a long while to even focus on what he was preaching over there. Every now and then I’d glance at doctor Iwamine, and his unchanging, tired demeanor. Was he really feeling ‘good’? He looked depressed, in a… permanent state of depression.

Months went on. It was October when Nageki woke up. I tried my best to assist Hitori and Nageki however I could. Those may have been some of the happier months of my life. We all looked forward to January… That’s when the school year would begin. Yes, we already planned to all enroll at St. Pigeonation’s! And the interesting fact is that doctor Iwamine actually had the same idea. He wasn’t a part of our little family, he truly played the role of an assigned doctor who only comes over when Hitori gets paranoid. Like that one time Nageki had one acne pimple, but Hitori blew the situation out of proportion and practically on his knees begged Shuu to run a dozen tests to make sure it’s not a sign that Nageki’s immune system is worsening again. It wasn’t. But I cried too. I get off topic too fast…

Well, anyway.

Now we’re here.

...It’s the end of March.

A lot has happened in those first miserable months of the year. A lot of which you already know, dear notebook. This log was only dedicated to my link to Shuu Iwamine… Doctor Shuu Iwamine… I never noticed how pretty-looking the kanji for “iwa” is. I like writing it over and over again in this log.

岩岩岩岩岩岩岩岩

It kinda looks like an army of chubby hamsters wearing crowns. I think I should sleep soon.

What should I conclude this analysis with? Recently I’ve been talking with doctor Iwamine again. I like being in the infirmary. I like watching doctor Iwamine work. Even if his sense of humor has become strangely perverted, I think he doesn’t mind me, so that makes me happy…

Doctor Iwamine already made some squeamish and scary comments when we saw each other briefly a few times, but I feel like at this school, he acts a lot like a super-villain. I wonder why? Am I analyzing it too much?

...I’ll come by tomorrow again. I wanna find out when he actually goes to work. It really feels like doctor Iwamine is kept to the infirmary by a chain or something. If it weren’t for the fact that I’ve literally met him in other places, I’d assume that he was hatched from an egg in the St. Pigeonation’s infirmary and is held like a prisoner there, or something. Or like a ghost haunting the infirmary, because he always pops up behind me?!

Gyaaa… My hand is falling asleep. I am falling asleep. Goodnight, notebook.」

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello~ I was absent from the internet because of some issues that I’ve tweeted about. But now I’m back home now!  
> I’d like to write more fics now because well, my laptop kicked the bucket, so I’m bound to writing rather than art...  
> This fic is really just oozing lore, since I’ve hinted at it in little bits in the previous chapters.  
> The next chapter will definitely be ~action~ and not Kazuaki’s biased POV again (lol)


End file.
